Join the #GoSponsorHer
challenge today

Help #MoveTheDial on women’s advancement

Why #GoSponsorHer?

“Mentorship and sponsorship are not equal. The power of sponsorship, and the reason why it is critical to career advancement, is that a sponsor uses strong influence to help his or her protégé access high visibility assignments and promotions. Sponsors take active risk to ensure their protégés’ success.”

Bill Thomas

Chair, KPMG Americas Region

Women are drastically underrepresented in management roles across North America. Women comprise almost half of North America’s workforce, yet hold less than one-third of all senior management positions, and fewer than 5% of CEO positions.Companies have a real opportunity to drive growth by unlocking female talent. The benefits of gender diversity are well-documented, and include better team dynamics, improved decision-making, and better returns on investment.

Mentoring women in the workplace is not sufficient. Women need more sponsors who will engage in their career advancement, and commit to their success.

A Sponsor’s role is to create opportunities and advocate for his or her Sponsoree.

By participating in #GoSponsorHer, you are playing an active and intentional role in the success of a high potential woman. AND, you are contributing to your organization’s bottom line.

How it Works

#GoSponsorHer is a movement to catalyze sponsorship and increase the number of women in leadership.

Sponsoree

A woman who works with a sponsor to identify her individual goals and career path. She will prioritize actions recommended by her sponsor and provide updates along the way.

Sponsor

A senior leader who actively supports a woman’s career and commits to her growth and success. A sponsor identifies a promising woman in his or her network and and invites her to join the #GoSponsorHer program.

The Relationship

Sponsors and sponsorees are encouraged to build strong professional relationships. Together, they share their success with other potential sponsors to support the growth of the female C-suite and #GoSponsorHer program nationwide.

Behind #GoSponsorHer

#GoSponsorHer was conceived by Megan Anderson and Laura McGee, two women who saw and felt the power of sponsorship, but noticed that women often lack these relationships. Catalyst research on the importance of sponsorship backs this up — showing that women are over-mentored and under-sponsored, resulting in far fewer promotions and advancement opportunities.

Megan and Laura became determined to kick-start a sponsorship “flywheel” by motivating leaders to actively sponsor women, and by raising awareness about how sponsorship works. Recognizing that the power of sponsorship could be significantly broadened with the right co-founding partners, McKinsey reached out to Deloitte and Catalyst to join them in bringing the #GoSponsorHer program to life. Building on the national and global networks of these three partners, the Campaign found quick support in forward-thinking leaders from a wide range of companies.

#GoSponsorHer is a movement to catalyze sponsorship and increase the number of women in leadership.